By pleading guilty, Smith avoided a trial that was scheduled to begin Wednesday in Giguere’s courtroom.

Smith has been jailed since September when he was arrested and charged with open murder in the stabbing death of Delores Smith, 56, at Devonshire Apartments on Meredith Street.

Portage Public Safety officers found Delores Smith dead on the afternoon of Sept. 12 after responding to a call from Clinton Smith’s children to check on her welfare.

A detective who obtained an arrest warrant for Clinton Smith testified in September that Delores Smith had “a significant wound to the left side of her neck” when officers found her.

As part of the plea agreement in the case, the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s Office is reserving its right to make a sentencing recommendation when Smith is sentenced by Giguere Feb. 18.

A Cobbs agreement between Smith and the court calls for Giguere to not depart upward or downward from sentencing guidelines in the case.

A Cobbs plea allows for a defendant to enter a guilty plea in a case that can later be withdrawn if a judge’s sentence falls outside the terms put forth by the judge before a defendant entered their plea.

Second-degree murder is punishable by any term of years up to life in prison.

Smith is being held without bond in the Kalamazoo County Jail pending his sentencing in circuit court.

Rex Hall Jr. is a public safety reporter for the Kalamazoo Gazette. You can reach him at rhall2@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter.